Saturday, November 22, 2014

The "Mechanic's of Style?"

I'm always fascinated by the detail involved with a person's style and or fashion sense. How the smallest addition of an accessory such as a scarf, belt or jewelry can send the rest of your outfit into the dumpster-or over the top.

Earlier in the week we did have a conversation here in Cyrsti's Condo about the power of a mirror-good and bad. Face it, if you want to do the girl thing, you have to have some sort of intimate relationship with your mirror. Of course, if you let it-it will lie to you. On the other hand the mirror is a necessary and even fun part of being a cross dresser and/or transgender woman.

For what it's worth-here are my basics, before I get to the mirror.

First, who are you dressing for? I dress for women and to "blend". What will the majority of generics be wearing where I am going.

Secondly, I consider if I can afford the fashions I'm looking at. Normally no, but I have developed a very good system of "value/discount" shopping.

Then, I have to consider if the fashion would look good on my body type at all, or if I would ever wear it. For example, I may love a pair of business professional slacks or blazer but would never wear it.

Plus, can I find items in my size. I can't diet enough to wear many of the trends I see on pencil thin young models but I can adapt a variation. A good source for me has been the "Fabulous after 40" fashion site.

Finally, I try to maintain a basic wardrobe of seasonal "classics" which aren't likely to change before I can wear them out from use.

My biggest "guilty" pleasures though are accessories such as earrings, necklaces, scarves and purses. If there is any way to get your ears pierced-I would recommend it! Somehow, I discovered I had a hidden knack for adding items to my outfits which give them a little pizzazz.

Let's take this outfit to the left as an example. I have a black leather jacket I bought in the spring at a deep discount price. Scarves similar to this cost 1.29 at Goodwill (discount). The top could be a "treasure" from the same store at 3.29. The leggings I bought for 8.99 at a well known "Dollar" store and my boots are from last year.

The positives for me are this look, "lengthens" me and deflects my thick upper torso as much as possible. Plus of course it keeps me warm and accentuates my legs and thighs (a positive.)

What I would not do would be to wrap the scarf like this and let it fall down the front of me. I don't want to add more upper bulk and again lengthen my look. The problem I have is finding tops which fall this far to my hips.

Finally, this is where my much maligned "too long hair" for a woman my age BS comes into play. Again, I'm tall and can wear my hair longer and when it drapes over my shoulders it helps to cover my thick and short neck.

So, there you go kids. I know I don't write much about my fashion and what I wear much. That does not mean I don't take intense pride in trying to do it right. It's just one of the "girl things" which are fun when it all comes together. You can always blame your mirror when it doesn't. I see plenty of generics who should too!